Chapter 2
"Elissa, you make sense," I said.
Hearing that, Elissa breathed a sigh of relief and settled back into the rear seat.
She said, "Glad you understand, Charlotte. Go ahead and turn off the engine. Let's just rest here for a while."
She confidently pulled out her phone and started texting, completely relaxed.
I gave her a cold glance. Instead of turning off the engine, I gripped the steering wheel even tighter.
I hit the gas.
The car shot forward.
Elissa hadn't fastened her seatbelt and was thrown forward.
"Ow, my head. Charlotte, what are you doing? Didn't you just agree to wait here for Michael and the others?" Elissa cried out.
"You make sense, but I'm not taking your advice," I replied coolly.
I didn't even glance back—just floored it, accelerating down the road.
We were headed straight for Ashwick Village, getting closer with every second.
The car sped along, and this time Elissa tried to stop me but didn't dare.
She shot me a furious glare, then buried her face in her phone, furiously tapping away.
A few minutes later, we were there.
My phone kept buzzing with calls.
But I just ignored every single one.
When we finally pulled up at the entrance to Ashwick Village, Elissa's phone started ringing.
She glanced at the screen and then looked away from me, shrinking into the corner of the car to answer it.
She said, "Hey, Mom? Charlotte was driving just now, and she was going so fast. I wouldn't dare try to stop her; that was crazy dangerous."
I rolled my eyes and grabbed the tablet.
The group chat was blowing up with messages.
Elissa: [Oh no, I can't stop her. Mom, hurry up the mountain. Don't hang around at the base. Michael. You guys keep climbing. Don't come down yet. Make sure Charlotte doesn't catch you.]
Michael: [What does she even want? I finally got to live my snow dream with Kaylie, and now she's messing everything up.]
Lucian: [Why does she have to be so difficult?]
Alice: [It's fine, I'll stop her.
[I'm her mother-in-law. If I call her, she'll have to do what I say.
[Why won't she answer?
[She won't even pick up when I call.]
At first, Alice was totally at ease, like nothing could bother her.
But soon enough, she started getting restless.
After Elissa kept updating them on how close we were, Alice was getting more and more frantic.
In the end, she had to abandon her plan to stay at the base and was forced to climb up the mountain all by herself.
But she was getting older and slow on her feet.
The mountain path was tough, with rocks scattered everywhere.
She had no choice but to call Elissa, telling her to keep me busy and stop me from getting out of the car.
Her best bet was for Elissa to get me to turn the car around and leave right now.
After all, she hadn't climbed very high yet, and the spot she was at was still pretty open, with only a few trees around.
If I got too close, it'd be easy to spot her.
Elissa quickly nodded along, eager to keep me distracted. "Um, Charlotte, weren't you wanting to see the mountain?
"Here, look outside—that's the Veyrath Traverse right there."
I looked out the window.
Outside, the landscape was vast and shrouded in gray.
I still didn't get what drew so many people to try the Veyrath Traverse.
So many had lost their lives out here.
Elissa jumped in, sounding anxious. "Alright, you've seen it. Let's go.
"Alright, you've seen the mountain. Let's get out of here. My brother and the others will be back any minute."
She pushed me to leave.
Then, she turned around, took a quick photo, and sent it to the group chat.
Elissa: [At the starting point of the Veyrath Traverse, Ashwick Village. Ugh, wish I could be up there with you guys enjoying the snow.]
She was so two-faced—seriously, what a piece of work.
But I couldn't bring myself to be as cold as her.
"Come on, let's get out of the car. Just sitting here isn't enough, right? I can tell you really want to see it. We're here anyway. Even if we can't hike, we can at least take some photos," I said.
We were here anyway.
Elissa looked a bit tempted.
She said, "Alright, let's take a few photos, but we have to leave right after, okay?"
Well, looked like she finally stopped trying to rush me out.
She was the first to jump out of the car, phone raised, snapping photos everywhere.
Once she finished taking pictures, she posted them on Instagram and then dropped them in the group chat.
Alice hadn't even climbed 300 feet yet and was already gasping for air.
When she checked the group chat, she was totally panicking.
Alice: [Elissa, why are you posting those photos?
[I can't climb anymore. Hurry up and get Charlotte out of here.]
She was freaking out I'd catch her if I hung around too long.
So, I decided to help her out.
I pulled my scarf tighter around me.
Tablet in hand, I switched to camera mode and headed for the base of the mountain.
Elissa suddenly freaked out, shouting in panic, "Charlotte, where are you going?"
I pointed ahead. "Just heading down to snap a few pics."
With Alice crawling along at a snail's pace, if I got to the base and kept my eyes open, I might actually catch sight of her.
Elissa panicked. "Stop. You can't go there."
She jumped in front of me, arms outstretched, blocking my path.
But I had the height and strength advantage.
We scuffled for a moment.
With Elissa still hanging onto me, I just dragged her right down to the base of the mountain.
We were about to run right into Alice.
Elissa couldn't even bother to stop me anymore.
She shifted sideways, one hand still gripping me, the other frantically texting Alice, begging her to climb faster.
But Alice was way too slow.
Panicking, she called me.